Link for venetian blinds



M. LAIRD LINK FOR VENETIAN BLINDS May 12, 1942.

Filed NOV. 4, 1940 l jiw/lzor Maw/za!! Laird.

4known form and structure..

I Patented May l2, 1942 7 Claims.

1 l My invention has to do with Venetian' blinds and, more particularly,it relates to links for interconnecting the slats of the blind in amanner to eliminate the use of conventional ladder tape. y l

A notorious objection to Venetian blinds of conventional construction isthat the fabric ladder tape used to 'collapsibly space the slats apartquickly becomes soiled or worn and must be frequently cleaned, repairedor replaced, While attempts have been made r*to provide metal hingedlinks to substitute for fabric tape ladders, those attempts heretoforehave been unsuccessful for several reasons. provision for the types ofhinge connections that have been attempted have rendered the links toothick or bulky to enable efficient and neat 'collapse of the blind andalso such hinge connections have been of a type which would stick orbind or would not break uniformly when the operating cord of the blindis moved to collapse the blind.

It is therefore among the principal objects of my invention to produce ahinged link, a plurality of which may be connected together andsubstituted for the conventional ladder tape; which will provide aladder capable of as long a life as that ofthe slats themselves; whichisY extremely durable, economical and attractive; which may be easilyassembled and disassembled; which provides maximum ease and uniyformity'of operation; which is not thick or bulky enough to interferewith neat, effi-cient and compact collapse of the blind; which will atall times break uniformly in the desired direction and v manner: andwhich will not stick'or bind.

vHow these and'other objects and accomplishments of my invention areachieved will becomeV apparent from the following detailed descriptionof one presently preferred adaptation thereof, for which purpose I makereference to the accompanying drawing. in which: v

Fig. l is an end view of a Venetian blind embodying my invention; Fig. 2is a fragmentary front view; Fig. 3 is an end View showing the Venetianblind in collapsed position; 1`

For instance, the

Application Novmberl, 1940, Mseriaiiyafseaiis (criss-wy l Fig. 4 is afront view of the upper portion of one of my improved ladder links;

5 is a front view rofthe lower portion of one of said ladder links; Y

F'g. 6 is acrosssecticn takeri' on line 6 6 of Fig. 5, showing the earportionsrbent out of ton'of a Venetian'blind havingv the usual plu- Yrality of parallel slats 5, top and bottom bars 6, l, respectively, andoperating cord 8, all of well- Yprised of a lowery section My improvedcollapsiblejladder for supporting andY interconnecting the slats of ablind is gen` erally designated by the numeral I0 and is com- I5, anlupper section I6 andahing'e pin I8.,l i. As will be best'seenf1'omFigs. 5 and 8,:the lowerfsection I5 is a thin, rexible platepreferably composed'` of sheet metal, although it will of course beunderstood that other suitable materials Amay beA used, The plate I5 hason its oppositeyside edges, adjacent the top edge, Y-two pairs ofoppositely disposed ears -2I, 22, s aid pairs "of ears beingl spacedaparta distance slightly greater than the thickness of the upper sectionI6. The plate I5 also has a central cutaway prtion 23 in zits, top andthe bottom edge of the plate is backwardly curved to provide a socketportion '24 to receive a hinge pin. I8. n l' Theupper section I6 iscomprised of a plate preferably of thesame thickness and material asthat of the` lower. sectionl and has a bodyportion presenting adownwardlyv openingref cess3I. TheV upper edge of the plate isbackwardly curved' toV provide spacedhinge Apin rev ceiving sockets 3,2,spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the widthof socket 24ofthe lowerplate, which latter socket fits into the space betweensockets 32and in alinement there-'l vwith. At opposite sides ofn thecutaway portion 3|, I provide a'pair of oppositely disposed" slots 33Whose outer ends 34 aredisposed diagonally.,

upwardly and outwardly. c s

In "mountin'gthe device on a blind, I provide a. mounting plate 470which preferably is a thin,

flexible metal strip bent upon itself to provide a round hinge pinreceiving socket 4I. Plate 40 is screwed or otherwise suitably securedtothe top bar 6 and the upper section I6 of one of the lad-V der linksis pivotally secured tothe plate40 by a `hinge pin I8 passingfthroughsockets 32;" 4I. Said rhinge pin I8 also passes through a looped end50a. of a ladderl bar 50 upon whichthe slat rests, the opposite vend of*said` bar 50 being likewisemounted on the 'hinge pin I8 of anotherladder link element I llat the opposite edge of the' slat. Forth'epurpose of accommodating the width of the ladder bar,rone of the topcor-ner portions of the socket 32 is cutaway as shown at 32a. Thisycutaway,portion 32d, as well as the respective ladder bars 50,- arealternately placed to the right and left of the'top section I6 ofrespective units Illthat is, for instance, the topmost ladder bar 5I)may be on the left hand side of the front top -link section I6 and, withrespect to the next adjacentllnk unit III below, the ladder bar 50 willbe' on the` right hand side, etc.

Next, as shown 'in Figgf vfor the purpose of assembly, the opposite ears2lv ofthe lower section I5 are bent so as to 4vbe disposed at the sameangle as that of the ,slot ends `V34," sothat the slots will pass theears' 2I and enable the upper section IBtorest-between earsil, 2,2.After .the upper end of the lower ,sectionis ,thus inserted in slots3'3, the ears :2l are then re-:bent1 down to their normal position infaplanewith the-body portion of the lower section. This provides ahinged connection betweenthelt-wo linksections, the connecting ends ofthe link-sections being slightly inwardly disposed .towards ,thekopposite side of the slat (see Fig. .1) so that when the operating cordis operated to `collapse the blind, the links will always breakuniformly inwardly.

Suilicient links are assembled'in like manner to completethe blind tothedesired length, a slat resting on each Vof'theladder bars, and each Ysucceeding plate being pivotally secured to the ,Y lower section of thelast installed linkby means of another hinge pin z,lli :andanother-:ladder bar 50. It will be understoodiof course ithat itrequires a pair `ofvoppositely disposed ladder links I at least foreachend ofthe-blind, although where unusually long slats are used therervmaybe required one Aor more intermediate rows of ladder links I0. Thelowerrnost link -sections are pivotally connectedto the bottom bar'ljbymeans of mountingrplatesfll) in the manner before described.

Preferably, one end of each of the hinge pins I8 is flattened at l8a topreventlongitudinal escape therefrom of the ladder bar. While the pinsi8 are usually held in position by the weight of the elements below, Iprovide a positive means for holding those pins against longitudinalescape in a direction towards the attened end,

comprised of a short screwthread l6U on` one-,end of the pin and acooperating earl6 l struck out of the,..material of the socketportion32, vwhich ear is engaged by said thread when thepin is inserted andturned slightly. For the purposeof turning the hinge pin, I preferablyprovide a `rrhole 63 in one end. thereof, into `which asmall pin or likeobject may bel-insertedA ,to ,turn the hinge pin. f l

While I have resortedto considerable detail for the purpose of making myinvention understood, I wish it understood that within the broader scopeof my invention, asvdeflned by the appended claims, variousmodifications and adaptations Amay be made without departing irom thespirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A Venetian blind comprising parallel slats supported by hingedlinksvdisposed atvopposite side edges of the slats,l each of said linksbeing hingedly connected to an adjacent link and comprised-,of an upperand a lower thin, flexible plate, one of said plates having therethrougha narrow elongated transverse slot whose opposite end portions aredisposed atan angle to the intermediate slot portion and the other ofsaid plates having an e'nd portion 'inserted through said slot andopposite sideprojections which are bendable into the plane of the saidend-portions of the slot to permit passage therethrough and bendableinto the plane of the intermediate'slot portion to prevent escape `fromthe slot.,

1 2. A ladder for the slats, of a Venetian blind or the likecomprising aplurality of links, each comprised of: an upper and a lower plate, meansfor hingedly connecting the upper 'part ofsaid lower plate to the lowerpart of said upper plate including a transverseslot inthe upper plateinto which projectsLV the upper portionof the lower plate, the oppositevends .of said slot beirigupwardly and outwardly disposed and pairs ofvertically spaced ears on'each side-.of eachilower plate, the topmostpair Yol' ears being bendable into the plane of said end portions of theslot to permit insertion therethrough and bendable from that plane tohold said plates in assembly,

Ameansfor hingedly connecting each of said links to an adjacent link,and means associated with said last-named means for supporting therespective slats.

3. A hinged link of the class described comprising an upper and a lowerplate of thin, exible Vmetal or the like, means for hingedly connectingsaid plates together comprising a transverse slot in one of the plates,the respective ends Vof said slot being disposed at an angle to Vtheadjacent portion of the slot, a pair of vertically spaced ears on eachof the opposite sides of the upper portion o f the other plate, one`pair of said ears being inserted through said slot and bentiout of theplane of the end portions ofthe vslot to prevent longitudinal escapetherefrom.

f1. A ladder for the slats of a Venetian blind or the like comprising aplurality of links, each comprised of: an upper and a lower plate, meansfor hingedly connecting the upper part of said vlower plate to the lowerpart of said upper plate,

and means for hingedly connecting each link to an adjacent linkincluding a backwardly bent portion of each plate whereby to provide asocket ateach end of each link, an ear struck out of one of saidbackwardly bent portions and projecting into one of said sockets and ahinge pin extending transversely through said sockets, said 'pin havinga screwthread cooperating with Va plane-surfaced portion at and adjacentits other end, one of the links of each pair having a ,transverse slotspaced from its ends and extending through its plane-surfaced portionand the other link of each pair having its planesurfaced portionprojecting throughv said slot whereby to hingedly interconnect saidlinks.

6. An articulated ladder for Venetian blinds or the like' comprisingpairs of links disposed in ',tion extending through said slot whereby tohingedly interconnect said links.

7. An articulated ladder for Venetian blinds or Vthe like comprisingpairs of links disposed in rows at opposite edges of the slats, eachlink of each pair having one end portion pivotally connected to a linkof anadjacent pairand a planesurfaced portion at and adjacent its otherend,

one of the links of each pair having, through its plane-surfaced portionand spaced from its ends,

van elongated transverse slot, said slot having each of its end portionsdisposed at an angle to its intermediate portion, and the other link ofeach pair having its plane-surfaced portion extending through said slotand having deformable ears for preventing longitudinal escape from theslot.

MARSHALL LAIRD.

